Photocopy machine



1966 J. w. CARLSON 3,283,689

PHOTOCOPY MACHINE Filed Jan. 24, 1964 5 SheetsSheet 1 FIG! j k finfl 35 45 INVENTOR:

JOHN W. CARLSON J. w. ccccc ON 3,283,689

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO NE INVENTOR. JOHN W. CARLSON BY United States Patent 3,283,689 PHOTOCOPY MACHINE John W. Carlson, Chicago, Ill., assignor to SpeerLO-Print Business Machines Corporation, Chicago, ill, a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 24, 1964, Ser. No. 339,969 5 Claims. (Cl. 9589) This invention relates in general to photocopy machines for carrying out the diffusion-transfer process of copying. More particularly, the invention is directed to a machine for carrying out the process wherein the latent image of an exposed negative is developed by wetting the negative with a developer fluid and thereafter pressing the wet negative against a dry positive, whereupon the image will be transferred from the negative to the positive.

Heretofore, in carrying out the diflusion-transfer process in copying it has been necessary to wet both the negative and positive sheets with the developer fluid. Coated papers have now been produced wherein it is possible to transfer the image of an original document from the negative which has been wet by the developer fluid to a dry positive sheet, thus insuring better results and the ability to make better copies in a shorter period of time.

A machine for carrying out the diffusion-transfer process where both the negative and positive sheets are wet by the developer fluid is disclosed, for example, in my issued Patent No. 3,031,942. The present invention relates in general to the same type of machine but, of course, the details of structure may be varied within the capabilities of those skilled in the art without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention.

In view of the foregoing, therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a photocopy machine wherein a positive and an exposed negative may be passed through the machine in such a way as to wet the negative by the developer fluid and as to maintain the positive dry until the two sheets meet and are pressed together.

Another object of the invention is to provide a photocopy machine in which there is located a trough or container for the developer fluid and wherein there is a separate passageway below the developer fluid so that when the negative and positive sheets are inserted into the machine with the negative positioned above the positive, the negative will pass through the developer fluid and the positive will pass through the passageway below the fluid so that it will remain dry until it is contacted and pressed against the wet negative.

A still further and more specific object of the invention is to provide a trough for use in a photocopy machine wherein a quantity of developer fluid may be located and wherein the construction is such that a dry passageway positioned below the entire quantity of fluid is provided for the purpose of keeping the positive sheet dry as it passes therethrough while the negative is wet by the developer fluid thereabove.

Still another and specific object of the invention is to provide in a photocopy machine a novel form of trough construction'wherein the body of the trough has an arcuate-shaped bottom above which a removable bottom of similar contour may be positioned in spaced relation, whereby the removable bottom may hold a developer fluid for developing a negative as it passes therethrough and whereby a positive sheet may be fed through the passageway formed by the space between the bottom of the trough and the removable bottom in order to maintain the positive dry until it comes into contact with and is pressed against the wet negative.

3,283,685) Patented Nov. 8, 1966 Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary end elevational view of a photocopy machine embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a somewhat enlarged transverse sectional view of the trough shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1 and taken substantially along the plane of line 22 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the trough shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational View of the same trough and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows 44 in FIG. 3, and

FIG 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the various parts of the trough or developer fluid container embodying the present invention.

In Eisbein United States Patent No. 2,664,801 issued January 5, 1954, there is illustrated a form of developing apparatus wherein it was visualized that one of the two or more sheets or emulsion carriers might be kept dry but the present invention embodies improvements over that construction, as will appear more fully herein as the description proceeds.

In the aforesaid Eisbein patent a tank is filled with developer fluid and three passageways extend downwardly through the fluid and then upwardly out of the fluid. Two of the passageways have openings in the wall thereof so that the developer fluid may pass through the openings and into the passageways to Wet an emulsion carrier passing therethrough. One of the passageways remains dry.

The present invention embodies an improved construction over those heretofore known and is designed to carry out the diffusion-transfer process where the image is transferred from an exposed negative, which has been wet by developer fluid, to a dry positive.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a photocopy machine having the general construction like that in my above referred to earlier issued patent. The machine comprises a housing generally indicated by the numeral 1 which consists of a front 2, a rear 3, a top 4, a bottom 5, and ends 6. An opening in the front wall 2 allows the insertion therein of a trough member generally indicated by the numeral '7. In the particular embodiment shown, the trough 7 is inserted into the housing 1 through the opening in the front wall and assumes the position illustrated by the dotted lines in FIG. 1. The trough 7 is adapted to hold a quantity of a developer fluid but it will be evident that any suitable trough or container, having the general construction herein shown, may be used whether it is inserted through an opening in a wall of the housing or whether a part of it forms a part of such wall, or whether it is positioned in some other specific location within the confines of the housing.

The general operation is as described in by above referred to issued patent, i.e., a positive sheet and an exposed negative are inserted into the trough through suitable openings at the front of the housing and emerge from the trough at the rear thereof and are pressed together between a pair of wringer rollers such as shown, for example, in FIG. 1 by the numerals 8 and 9. In the present construction, however, the trough is designed to enable the positive sheet to remain dry during its travel from the front of the machine to the wringer rollers while the exposed negative passes through the developer fluid to become wet thereby and thus enable the developed image to be transferred to the dry positive as they are pressed together between the wringer rollers. In accomplishing this result the trough 7, or other suitable type of container for the developer fluid, is provided with a passageway located below the developer fluid. The entire quantity of developer fluid through which the exposed negative passes is above the passageway through which the positive travels and no developer fluid is allowed in the passageway, thus insuring that the positive sheet is kept dry.

In the specific embodiment of the trough disclosed herein for purposes of illustration, such trough has a front wall 10, a rear wall 11, ends 12 and 13, and a bottom generally indicated at 14. The front of the trough has an inner surface 15 which slopes downwardly and inwardly and merges with a relatively flat intermediate portion 16 of the bottom 14. This bottom 14 then continues in a rearwardly and upwardly direction, as at 17, and terminates at the upper edge of the rear 11 of the trough in a position adjacent the wringer rollers 8 and 9. This bottom 14 is provided with a plurality of spaced-apart ribs 18 in order that the paper sheet, being moved across the bottom from the front to the rear, will have very little resistance.

A second bottom generally indicated by the numeral 19 is spaced upwardly from the trough bottom 14 and has a general contour similar to the over-all contour of the bottom 14. The second bottom 19 is preferably removable and separable from the main body of the trough to simplify the cleaning thereof. It will be evident, however, that the removability of the bottom 19 is not an essential feature of the construction.

The removable bottom 19 consists of a forward portion 20 which extends downwardly and inwardly from the front thereof to join a relatively flat area 21 and then terminates at the rear in the upwardly and rearwardly inclined section 22. The entire length of the removable bottom 19 is spaced upwardly or inwardly from the bottom of the trough 14, thereupon providing a passageway 23 which extends from the entrance 24 at the front of the trough to the exit 25 at the rear of the trough. The bottom 19 also is preferably provided with a plurality of spaced-apart transversely extending ribs 26 to facilitate the feeding of paper sheets or emulsion carriers through the developer fluid.

A plate 27 is positioned in spaced relation to the portion 20 of the removable bottom 19 thereby to provide a relatively short passageway 28 between the members 20 and 27 through which the exposed negative may pass into the developer fluid. Each end of the plate 27 is provided with an enlarged portion 29, which function as spacers to position the plate in a position to provide the passageway 28. Suitable means, such as the screws 30, pass through the plate 27, the portion 20 of the bottom 19, and into suitable lugs in the body of the trough, thereby to secure these various elements in assembled relation.

The trough is designed so that it can be conveniently filled with developer fluid without the necessity of removing the trough from within the housing. The design is such that the developer fluid may also be withdrawn from the trough Without removing it from the housing. In order to accomplish this, the ends 12 and 13 of the main body of the trough 7 are provided with slots 31 and 32. Slot 31 is defined by the downwardly and inwardly inclined edge portions 33 and 34 and the platform 35 at the bottom thereof. Slot 32 in the end 13 is defined by similarly converging edge portions 36 and 37 which also terminate in a platform similar to that shown at 35 on the opposite end of the trough. The ends of the trough bottom 14 have cut-out portions 38 and 39.

These slots and cut-out portions, as will presently become apparent, accommodate portions of the removable bottom 19 so that the two elements may be positioned properly with respect to each other. a

The removable bottom 19 has ends 40 and 41 formed as a part thereof so that the developer fluid may be maintained within the confines thereof. The end 40 is provided with an outwardly offset portion 42, the sides 43 and 44 of which converge slightly at substantially the same-a g e as the sides 33 and 34 of the slot 31 in the end 12 of the trough body. The portion 42 extends downwardly for a short distance beyond the lowermost point of the bottom 19 and extends inwardly thereof for a short distance, thereby forming an enlargement 45. A similarly formed enlargement 46 is provided at the bottom of the offset portion 47 located in the opposite end member 41. The height of each enlargement 45 and 46 is slightly greater than the distance between the bottom 14 and the platform 35 so that when the bottom 19 is nested with the trough body 7 with the offset portions 42 and 47 received by the slots 31 and 32, the enlargements 45 and 46 will come to rest upon the platform 35 and support the trough 19 in spaced relation to the trough bottom 14. This spacing provides the passageway 23 to receive the positive and keep it dry until it meets the negative at or adjacent the rollers 8 and 9.

Referring now more specifically to FIGS. 3 and 5, it will be seen that each of the enlargements 45 and 46 is provided with a vertical passageway and a substantially horizontal passageway. In the enlargement 45 the vertical passageway is indicated at 48 and the horizontal passage- Way at 49. In the enlargement 46 the vertical passageway is shown at 59 and the horizontal one at 51. Each of the horizontal passageways 49 and 51 is connected to a hose or other suitable type of conduits 52 and 53 which extend rearwardly of the trough and toward the center thereof and lead into a common passageway 54 provided in member 55. This passage 54 is formed by a bore in the member 55 which connects with a transverse bore 56 therein, through which developer fluid will pass when the trough is being filled and emptied.

The bottom of the trough 19 at its lowest point is provided with a tapered trough-like trench connected to the passages 48 and 50 to facilitate draining the developer fluid from the trough. This trench is generally indicated by the numeral 57 and tapers outwardly toward the ends of the trough 19 from the center thereof as shown at 58 and 59. The portions 58 and 59 also have sloping bottoms which slope downwardly toward the respective passageways 48 and 50 so that when the fluid in the trough is free to do so, it is guided in both directions from the center of the trough and thence through the passages 48 and 50 and eventually to the passage 54.

, As will be clear from referring to my earlier issued patent mentioned previously herein, the developer fluid is contained with a suitable container therefor mounted at the rear of the housing. In actual practice, the rear wall of the housing is hinged along the bottom and is formed as a closure member or door. The container for the fluid is mounted on the door and has a suitable hose connection which connects with the passage 54. The parts are so proportioned that when the door is completely open, the fluid container will be positioned at a level below the bottom of the trough. The level of the developer fluid in the trough is indicated by the dot-dash line in FIG. 2 identified by the \letter L. When the door is in raised or closed position, the container will be located above the bottom of the trough. If desired, a suitable valve may be provided to open and close the passage 54. Assuming the passage to be open, however, when the fluid container is above the level of the trough bottom, the fluid will drain out of the container and through the connections 52 and 53 and passageways 49 and 48 at one side, and 51 and 50 on the other side, to the removable trough bottom 19. When the fluid container is positioned below the level of the trough and the passageway 54 is open, the construction is such that the fluid will drain out of the trough bottom 19 through these same passageways at each end thereof. The outwardly sloping portions 58 and 59 of the trench 57 insure that all of the developer fluid will drain out of the removable bottom 19 and back into the fluid container.

The foregoing reference to the construction shown in my aforesaid issued patent is for the purpose of explaining by way of illustration one manner in which the developer fluid may be placed into the trough bottom and drained therefrom. Since that construction forms no part of the present invention, it will be evident that other specific constructions than that referred to may be utilized without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Thus, in the construction just described, the housing has an opening in the front wall thereof for the reception of the trough 7 and its assembled parts consisting of the removable bottom 19 and plate 27. As stated above, the location of the trough within the housing may be varied to suit the desires of the manufacturer. The invention herein lie-s primarily in the construction of the trough and its relationship with the other parts of the machine within the housing. That is to say, the fluid container, comprising the trough 7 and its assembled parts, is designed to have an exposed negative received thereby and passed through the developer fluid therein. The dry passageway is provided below the entire body of developer fluid to enable a positive sheet to be passed therethrough and remain dry until it meets the Wet negative as they both emerge at the rear of the trough. The positive and wet negative will then be pressed together between the wringer rollers 8 and 9 so that the image developed on the negative will be transferred to the positive. Thus, the trough constructed in this manner can be located anywhere within the housing as long as properly positioned openings are provided to receive the positive and negative sheets and guide them in their respective paths to a pair of wringer rollers.

Changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of parts from those disclosed herein without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the attendant advantages thereof, provided, however, that such changes fall within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is:

1. In a photocopy machine for carrying out the diffusion-transfer process, and which includes a pair of wringer rollers for pressing an exposed negative sheet and a positive sheet together for transferring an image from such a negative sheet to such a positive sheet,

(a) a trough assembly adapted to contain a quantity of a developer fluid and having (1) an entrance side remote from said rollers, and (2) an exit side adjacent to said rollers, (b) said trough assembly including 1) a main body portion, and 2) a removable bottom member, (c) said main body portion having a bottom wall,

(1) extending downwardly and inwardly from said entrance side and (2) upwardly and outwardly to said exit side, (d) means for supporting said removable bottom member within said main body portion in upwardly spaced relation to said bottom wall, in position to provide a passageway therebetween extending from said entrance side to said exit side, for feeding such a positive sheet from said entrance side into operative position between said rollers, (e) said supporting means comprising (1) recesses in said body member, and (2) offset portions on said removable bottom member and disposed in respective ones of said recesses, (f) said removable bottom member being adapted to hold the entire said quantity of developer fluid there- 5 in, whereby said passageway is disposed below all of the developer fluid in said trough and will keep the positive sheet dry as it passes therethrough,

(g) an opening at the entrance side of said trough through which said positive sheet may be fed into said passageway,

(h) a second opening at the said entrance side of said trough through which such an exposed negative sheet may be fed firom said entrance side through the developing fluid therein on top of the said bottom member into operative engagement with said positive sheet between said rollers to thereby transfer such an image from said negative sheet to said positive sheet.

2. The combination in a photocopy machine as defined in claim 1, and in which (a) each of said recesses is defined by side walls and a bottom wall,

(b) each of said offset portions includes (1) side walls abutting-1y engaged with respective ones of said firs-t mentioned side walls for holding said removable bottom member against movement in a horizontal direction, and

(2) a bottom wall resting on a respective one of said bottom walls in said recesses for supporting said removable bottom member.

3. The combination in a photocopy machine as defined in claim 1, and in which (a) said removable bottom member includes a bottom wall for supporting said fluid, and

(b) said offset members have portions disposed below said last mentioned bottom wall.

4. The combination in a photocopy machine as defined in claim 3, and in which (a) said oflset members are disposed at two opposite sides of said removable bottom member, and

(b) said last mentioned bottom wall and said portions of said offset members have interconnected passageways therethrough for draining said fluid from said removable bottom member.

5. The combination in a photocopy machine as defined 45 in claim 1, and in which (a) said second opening is defined by said removable bottom member and a relatively flat plate removably mounted on said body portion above said removable bottom member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,031,942 5/1962 Carlson 9589 X 3,148,611 9/1964 Eisner et a1 9589 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,105,023 6/ 1955 France.

965,675 1/ 1957 Germany.

759,714 10/ 1956 Great Britain.

NORTON ANSHER, Primary Exdminer.

C. B. PRICE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A PHOTOCOPY MACHINE FOR CARRYING OUT THE DIFFUSION-TRANSFER PROCESS, AND WHICH INCLUDES A PAIR OF WRINGER ROLLERS FOR PRESSING AN EXPOSED NEGATIVE SHEET AND A POSITIVE SHEET TOGETHER FOR TRANSFERRING AN IMAGE FROM SUCH A NEGATIVE SHEET TO SUCH POSITIVE SHEET, OF A DEVELOPER FLUID AND HAVING (A) A TROUGH ASSEMBLY ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A QUANTITY (1) AND ECTRANCE SIDE REMOTE FROM SAID ROLLERS, AND (2) AN EXIT SIDE ADJACENT TO SAID ROLLERS, (B) SAID TROUGH ASSEMBLY INCLUDING (1) A MAIN BODY PORTION, AND (2) A REMOVABLE BOTTOM MEMBER, (C) SAID MAIN BODY PORTION HAVING BOTTOM WALL, (1) EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND INWARDLY FROM SAID ENTRANCE SIDE AND (2) UPWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY TO SAID EXIT SIDE, (D) MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID REMOVABLE BOTTOM MEMBER WITHIN SAID MAIN BODY PORTION N UPWARDLY SPACED RELATION TO SAID BOTTOM WALL, IN POSITION TO PROVIDE A PASSAGEWAY THEREBETWEN EXTENDING FROM SAID ENTRANCE SIDE TO SAID EXIT SIDE, FOR FEEDING SUCH A POSITIVE SHEET FROM SAID ENTRANCE SIDE INTO OPERATIVE POSITION BETWEEN SAID ROLLERS, (E) SAID SUPPORTING MEANS COMPRISING (1) RECESSING IN SAID BODY COMPRISING (2) OFFSET PORTIONS ON SAID REMOVABLE BOTTOM MEMBER AND DISPOSED IN RESPECTIVE ONES ON SAID RECESSES, (F) SAID REMOVABLE BOTTOM MEMBER BEING ADAPTED TO HOLD THE ENTIRE SAID QUANTITY OF DEVELOPER FLUID THEREIN, WHEREBY SAID PASSAGEWAY IN DISPOSED BELOW ALL OF THE DEVELOPER FLUID IN SAID TROUGH AND WILL KEEP THE POSITIVE SHEET BY AS IT PASSES THERETHROUGH, (G) AN OPENING AT THE ENTRANCE SIDE OF SAID TROUGH THROUGH WHICH SAID POSITIVE SHEET MAY BE FED INTO SAID PASSAGEWAY, (H) A SECOND OPENING AT THE SAID ENTRANCE SIDE OF SAID TROUGH THROUGH WHICH SUCH AN EXPOSED NEGATIVE SHEET MAY BE FED FROM SAID ENTRANCE SIDE THROUGH THE DEVELOPING FLUID THEREIN ON TOP OF THE SAID BOTTOM MEMBER INTO OPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID POSITIVE SHEET BETWEEN SAID ROLLERS TO THEREBY TRANSFERE SUCH AS IMAGE FROM SAID NEGATIVE SHEET TO SAID POSITIVE SHEET. 